Open source gaming server
Relive the LAN party fun of the 90s and noughties with a Raspberry Pi, Christian Cawley and a Quake server. Don’t forget the pizza!
Run an open source Quake LAN party.
LAN parties have become less popular in recent years, with improvements in network speeds and online gaming. While they still take place, time has moved on. But there’s something missing…
Surely one of the most enjoyable gaming experiences of all time, a Quake III Arena LAN game was always guaranteed to lead to late nights, as well as keep the local pizza shop running. But those days don’t need to be left in the past. It’s time to arrange a new Quake LAN party using your Raspberry Pi.
Two main options are available. There’s the manual installation and setup, which uses Quake III files available in the main Raspbian repos, and the easy installation of Quake On LAN. With a Quake On LAN server running, any version of Quake III (or anything based on it) can connect and start playing a multiplayer deathmatch scenario. This can be run on any platform, PC, Linux, macos – whatever you can run Quake on. Better still, Quake III will also run on a Raspberry Pi.
We’ll start off here by installing the game on a Raspberry Pi, then take a look at how Quake On LAN streamlines the difficult process of manual configuration of the server side of Quake III deathmatch multiplayer-hosting.
Open-source Quake
Manual installation of Quake III on the Raspberry PI is straightforward, with the game available in the repos. Once installed on two Pis, you can use one to host local network games. The best results are achieved by installing the game via the Raspbian desktop, using one of two methods. The easiest way is to go to Preferences>add/remove Software and search for “quake3” – when you spot the result, check the
Quake III Arena menu entry and launcher scripts, then hit OK to install.
‘Quake 3’ will be added to the Games subfolder in the desktop menu, but at this stage it won’t work. Instead you’ll see a message: Required data files are missing, Please use game-data-packager to build and install the data packages for Quake 3 Arena . The same point is reached if you use the bash commands
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade sudo apt install quake3.
The solution to this is to download and build some missing files using
game-data-packager quake3 -i
Wait for this to complete. Midway through, you’ll be prompted for the password to the Pi user account. It’s vital that you run this in a terminal on the desktop rather than over SSH, as the password won’t be accepted, correct or otherwise.
Once the game data has been installed, you can run
Quake III Arena from the menu, or use the command quake3 This launches ioquake3, the open-source version of the game. Repeat this installation for as many Raspberry Pis or other Linux computers as necessary. All you need to play is a mouse and keyboard.
On the Raspberry Pi you’ve designated as the server, run the game and enter Multiplayer. Here, select Create, then specify a map from the displayed choices. Select a
game type (Free for All, Deathmatch, Tournament, Capture the Flag) then Next to commence the game. From any client device, open Multiplayer and select the server. If it doesn’t show immediately, click Refresh a couple of times, or use Specify to enter the IP address. Moments later your LAN party can begin!
Quake On LAN
For a more streamlined process, Quake On LAN lets you get started quickly with a Raspberry Pi-based Quake server. It’s compatible with Quakeworld, Quake II and
Quake III Arena. Significantly, however, Quake On LAN cannot be used with the version of Quake you installed above. If you want to use that version, follow the steps to set up a multiplayer session.
Quake On LAN can be run with nquake, which is available for Windows, Linux (x86_64), and macos. Based on FTE Quakeworld, Yamagi Quake II, and
ioquake3, Quake On LAN is a Quake server disk image. Once it’s installed and the Pi booted, Quake On LAN provides Quakeworld, Quake II and Quake III Arena instances that can be connected to from your network. Note that instances can run concurrently, so parallel games can be played at the same time – some on
Quake III Arena, some on Quakeworld, Quake II, etc. Requiring any model of Raspberry Pi board and at least an 8GB SD card (the 3GB download expands to an almost 8GB disk image), Quake On LAN also requires a network cable (there’s no option to configure Wi-fi) and a game client. Quake On LAN is provided as a disk image, based on Raspbian Lite.
The easiest way to install Quake On LAN is with the
Etcher disk imaging tool. Download Etcher from Balena (http://bit.ly/lxf258-etcher) and grab your copy of the disk image from http://bit.ly/lxf258quakeonlan, then unzip the contents.
With the SD card inserted in your PC, run Etcher, using the tool to select the Quake On LAN IMG file. The SD card should be automatically detected, but take a moment to confirm this, and change if necessary. Click on Flash when you’re ready to write the data.
Once complete, safely remove the SD card, insert it into your Raspberry Pi and power it up. With a HDMI display connected, you’ll see the IP address for the game server presented. You’ll need this to connect to the server from your client devices.
However, if a display is not an option, don’t worry. You can use your wireless router’s admin screen to find the device on your network. From a PC, open a browser and visit the IP address listed on the back of your router. Sign in, then use the connected devices view (this will differ based on your router model) to find the Quake On LAN device. As the Raspberry Pi is connected using Ethernet, it shouldn’t take too long to find.
If you can’t access your router for whatever reason, try a mobile app like Fing. Available on Android (http:// bit.ly/lxf258-fingdroid) and IOS (http://bit.ly/ Lxf258-fing). Fling is a rather handy app that will display nearby wireless hardware, complete with IP address. It should display the IP address along with the operating system, giving you a strong clue as to the device’s purpose.
Pi parties
Different options are available to play Quake LAN parties. There seems to be some conflict between Quake On LAN games and Quake III Arena games (at least those using the ioquake3 project).
Testing reveals that the best option is to use nquake (http://bit.ly/lxf258-nquake), an easy-to-install Quake client built for Windows, macos and Linux. Recommending this to friends is going to save a lot of time – it’s a simple case of download and install. Note that nquake also offers Linux and Windows server downloads. There’s also a browser version of nquake, but this will require you to install Java. As this unfashionable virtual machine browser plugin is considered a security risk, it’s best avoided unless you’re confident about its use and removal. Other options are available, however.
To connect to a Quake On LAN session, open your game client and tap ~ or Esc and enter
connect [IP.ADD.RE.SS]
Be sure to enter the IP address you noted earlier. Happy fragging!